I have the following question for a class of mine, any help in answering it of finding out where to answer it would be greatly appreciated:

There are two distinctly different approaches to spam filtering:

1. Filter it yourself.

2. Have another company (like MessageOne) filter it for you.

Below is an example of an MX record for Sears (sears.com) from the output of an NSLookup query:

sears.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = smtpmail.searshc.com

Which of the two approaches outlined above does Sears use? Find an example of a different email domain which uses the other approach.

Be prepared to discuss pros and cons to each approach.

Thanks,
Brydaddy

Why would anyone here want to do your homework for you?
Might want to consider creating a class study group so you can discuss questions like this one.

Give a person a fish, they eat for a day. Suggest they internet search and they learn a skill for a lifetime.

Thanks Wanderer, I am not asking anyone to "Give" me the answer, what I asked was for "any help in answering it of finding out where to answer it " I have been looking on the internet under MX records and Email hosting and how to change the records, but have found not much help in reading an MX record or how to tell if the record is bing routed to someplace other than the originating domain server.

sears.com (Origin) MX preference = 10 (Highest rated server route) , mail exchanger = smtpmail.searshc.com (Is this telling me that it is going back to the origin server to do their own filtering? How can I tell if they are using another company to do this?

Thanks,
Brydaddy

Perhaps this will get you started
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MX_record

Look at the bottom dealing with external links.

Give a person a fish, they eat for a day. Suggest they internet search and they learn a skill for a lifetime.

you dont understand how mx records work.

There is not enough information to figure out where the mx record is pointing to.

208.247.100.22 reverces to smtpmail.searshc.com so it would be safe to guess that they are using inhouse filtering.